Raised by the Dead
by literary nonsense
Summary: Well. It seems that James and Lily didn't want to let Harry grow up without parents. But what can a couple of ghosts do for a child? [A short preamble, then a collection of oneshots]
1. Renewal

**Ok, ok, ok! Here is a new fic for the world! I sort of coughabandonedcough my previous one, which is (was) a Saiyuki fic, so you people here in the Harry Potter category might not care anyway.**

**So! This story-line was inspired during a phone conversation with one of my friends. We thought it was an interesting idea. Maybe you will too. shrugs**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything to do with it aside from some merchandise. (I love my Snapie doll! Yes I do!)**

_Halloween, 1981_

Godric's Hollow lay dark and lonely, completely devoid of holiday celebrators. The street lamps were blown out, their shattered glass lying in fragments at the bottom of the posts, and only the waning moon was left to cast any light upon the lifeless houses below. There was a slight echo of screams floating about, barely five minutes old. The only movement was the twisting of smoke rising from a smoldering pile of wood and stone.

And then, the air seemed to flicker. Slowly at first, then rapidly speeding into a steady pulse until...

"Oh my God, James. We're back."

The ghosts of James and Lily Potter descended upon the remains of their home. The more they saw of it, the more horrified they became.

"How could Harry have survived this? It's completely demolished." James peered at the wreckage, searching for some sign of life. "There's no way...except we didn't see him on the other side..."

"James." Lily's voice was soft, almost faint. James turned around to look at his wife, and then to where she was pointing. "It's us."

Sure enough, their bodies lay among charred support beams and mounds of ash. James was partially covered by a collapsed wall, and only Lily's hair and her hand, still clasping her wand in defense, was visible. "Then Harry must be..."

As if in response to show he _was_ there, a small squeal followed by incoherent babbling issued from beneath the wall.

"Harry! Oh my God, he's still alive! He survived!" The Potters shared a look of amazement and wonder. "We have to get him out!"

James lunged at the wall, only to slide through it. Desperately, he tried again, only to fail repeatedly. He let out a howl of frustration.

"We need to get somebody! We have to save him!"

"Don't worry, dearest. There were charms on the house to alert the Order if anything happened. Someone will be here before long."

**Sorry it's so short. I know what's going to happen next, I just need some feedback to assure myself that this isn't garbage. Please, review! Good, bad….whatever you like!**

**(the lavender button wants you to click it.)**


	2. Sirius Black to the Rescue!

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter, and I still love my Snapie doll!**

Sirius Black rushed his motorbike into a sloppy landing, letting it skid into its side as he quickly dismounted and ran towards the house. The light of the discarded bike shone upon the ghosts of James and Lily, making them virtually unable to see.

"Oh no...James! Lily! Are you there?" Sirius stumbled through the wreckage, searching frantically for any sign of life. "James? Lily! Are either of you...oh, no. Oh, please no."

He had found, as Lily had before, the bodies of the Potters. His mouth opened, trying to form words, but all he could do was gasp weakly. His best friends...dead, lying before him...

"No..." He fell to his knees and reached to stroke a lock of hair from James' face. "No, you just can't be gone..."

"Sirius! Sirius, thank God you're here!"

He turned to the sound of the voice, and found himself looking into the worried, but animated, face of James Potter.

"James! But, I don't understand..." Sirius looked back and forth between the body and the face, trying to make the connection.

"Sirius, you need to lift this wall. Harry somehow survived, and he's under there."

"You...are dead, then." James grew impatient with the way this conversation was going. Didn't Sirius realize what was at stake?

"Yes! Yes, we're dead! Harry will be soon if you don't get up off your duff and do something about it!"

As if waking from a trance, Sirius adopted a serious face and stood up. He stepped over James' body, grabbed a handle-hold on the partially broken wall and lifted it up. Harry was lying there under his crib, which had tipped over and sheltered him from the weight of the wall. The baby kicked and squealed happily at the sight of his godfather.

"Don't worry kiddo. Padfoot is coming for you." Sirius lifted the wall higher above his head, tilting it side ways. "Everything is going to be fine." He let his grip loosen, and the wall slid onto its side, falling with the momentum and away from Harry. Sirius rushed to pick up the child, to make sure he was ok. The only injury, as far as he could tell, was a cut on Harry's forehead.

"Is he alright?"

Sirius jumped when he heard Lily's voice next to his shoulder. She was looking at Harry with a smile, but her eyes were sad.

"He...seems fine, Lily. Really. He just has this cut..."

James came closer, and they all stood there in an awkward silence. Harry was the one who felt it was time to say something.

"Mama! Ma!" He stretched his chubby arms out to his mother, who reached back, only to have her hands slide through his. An expression of horror crossed her face. Her hands flew to cover her mouth, and she moved backwards. James put his arms around her, consoling and comforting.

"Oh..." Sirius looked at them, then at Harry. "You're ghosts. That's why...Oh, Lily, I'm sorry. James, Lily... I'm so sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't kill us, Voldemort did."

Sirius shook his head. "Don't you see? Peter sold you out. He betrayed you. If I hadn't made you switch..."

"Shut-up, Sirius." Lily had pulled her face from James' shoulder and was looking at Sirius with an almost fierce stare. "This is _not_ your fault. I don't want to hear another word like that again, do you understand?"

He nodded, and held Harry closer as the babe began to fuss. "What do we do now?"

"We hunt down Peter."

**Ooh, dramatic! This chapter is longer than the last one, so I'm happy. And now that the initial story has been laid out, it should get progressively less dark and more amusing. But, there's only one way to make sure I'm not lying: reviews! You know what to do next! **


	3. Conversations

**Ew. I'm sorry I haven't updated for a bit. I could feed you a bunch of lame excuses, but when it really comes down to it, I'm just a lazy bum.**

**To all my reviewers: Thank you! All the positive feedback motivates to write more- especially when I'm on 9 alerts!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. Woe is me.**

Sirius nodded. That made sense. "I'll go-"

"No. We'll send the aurors after him. I don't trust you." James smiled at his old friend. "Knowing you, you'd beat the Dark Mark off of him."

"Does he even have a Dark Mark?"

"I don't know. It was a metaphor, Sirius."

"Ok, well...what do we do _besides_ hunting the rat?"

"Getting out of here would be a good start. We need to report back to headquarters."

"No need for that, my friends." The small group turned to find Albus Dumbledore striding towards them. "The Order is well aware of what has transpired. Our current worry is what we shall do with young Harry." Dumbledore gave a grandfatherly smile at the babe, and turned to Lily and James.

"This is a most interesting turn of events, however. I did not expect the both of you to return."

"We thought it would be best for Harry, Headmaster. We didn't want him to grow up a complete orphan."

"Very wise, very wise. And please, call me Albus, Lily. You aren't a student anymore."

"Yes, sir. Albus."

"Excellent." Dumbledore rubbed his long hands together. "Now, let us retreat to somewhere warmer. I would like to discuss tonight's events in greater detail, and this is no place for a child to dwell."

(insert scene change here)

Some time later, they all were seated quite comfortably in Dumbledore's office. Well, Sirius, Harry and Dumbledore were.

The headmaster brandished a silver tin at no one in particular. "Lemon drop? No?" He replaced the tin to its former resting place with a shrug. "Ah well. Now, instead of going through the entire telling of this evening, I would request that you, Lily and James, simply transfer your memories into my Penseive."

"Can ghosts still do that?" Lily gave her former Headmaster a dubious glance. "Surely..."

"The spell is somewhat different, and I shall have to perform it, as neither of you are able to hold a wand, but it can be done."

**Aah! So short, I know! I plan on posting the next chapter in about half an hour: I know what I want to do, so it shouldn't take long to write. I hate to leave it here for now, but I can't create a bridge to go where I need to be next...you'll just have to be patient. (sorry)**


	4. Final Decisions

**Ok, so I lied about uploading in half an hour. Sorry about that. I've been disturbingly busy, with marching band starting up again...meh. Leadership blows. **

**Ah, I love you guys! For me, reviews are like...amazing, undescribable chunks of goodness. I'm going to start responding to my reviews at the start of these chapters, because it's fun! And more of an incentive for all of you to send me your thoughts.**

**FairiesandDragons911**: Thank you! I'm glad you like it.

**Mrs.RonaldWeasley1991**: Thanks! (ew, dursleys!) I have a plan as to what's going to happen to Harry, but the Prongs Jr. is an interesting thought. Mind if I use that?

**Kait-Lynn23**: Well...sorta. You'll like what happens, I promise.

**A Vermilion Memory**: I'm glad you think so! It's going to get funnier as it goes on. 

**xXx.gryffindor.girl.xXx**: Ha! Thanks. I try to be different, and I appreciate the compliment. I"ll try to update faster.

**Disclaimer: All I own is this plot. **

Dumbledore emerged from the Pensieve after fifteen minutes of awkward silence. "Well. I do believe I understand now."

"Understand what?"

(And here dear old Dumbles goes into the age-old explanation of how Voldemort was defeated, Harry is a freaking hero, and he needs to be placed with the Dursleys. We shall now see the responses to that.)

"Like hell he will!" (Sirius)

"There's no way I'm letting my son into the care of those...people!" (James)

"Tell him, James!" (Sirius)

"Headmaster, I don't think this is the best idea..." (Lily)

"Albus Dumbledore, your plans suck!" (Sirius)

(Ha.)

Dumbledore held up a hand to cease the torrent of protest and (from Sirius) profanities. "I understand that you disagree with them on certain issues-"

"Those _-explative deleted-_ are barely human! If I ever saw one of them on the street, I'd _-explative deleted-_ their _-explative deleted-_ faces in! And don't you dare try to send him to that _-explative deleted-_ of a place! I'll get you too, you _-explative deleted-..._"

"Sirius, that is quite enough from you," Lily repremanded. "Settle down, you stupid git. Of course Harry won't go there."

Sirius threw one last dirty look at the Headmaster and jumped down from where he had been standing (Dumbledore's desk).

"Yes. As I was saying, I understand you don't get along, but Harry will be safe there."

"If they even agree to take him in." James' expression darkened. "You do remember what happened at the wedding, don't you?"

(I'll write that seperately, if anyone wants me to.)

Dumbledore considered this. "Indeed...perhaps we can make some arrangement. So we can make sure that Harry isn't mistreated..."

((scene change))

The sun was rising over number 4, Privet Drive. Everything was as it should be; if you chose to ignore the owl dropping a letter onto the front step.

Petunia Dursley opened the front door to retrive the milk and morning paper when she noticed the irregular parchment envelope that lay just to the side of the welcome mat. She warily picked it up, half wondering if she should chuck it straight into the garbage bin (for these letters never held good tidings), but opened it anyway. She should have chucked it, for all the use it did.

"I will not have _ghosts_ living in my home! Much less a wicked orphan _freak_! What is _wrong _with these people!"

(I hate Petunia.)

((scene change))

"I told you they wouldn't want to take him." Sirius declared triumphantly. "Petunia is a prude, and I'm always right."

(eyeroll.)

"Well, we'll have to come up with something else." Dumbledore popped a lemon drop into his mouth as he pondered the situation at hand. Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but the elderly man cut him off. "No, he cannot stay with you. It would be too obvious, and he wouldn't be protected enough."

"_-explative deleted-._"

They all brainstormed, and several ideas, such as Remus and another shot at the Fidelus Charm, were rejected. It wasn't until a ghost glided through the wall to inform Dumbledore of some happening within the castle that Lily came up the the solution.

"Hogwarts."

"What was that, my dear?"

"Hogwarts. He can stay at Hogwarts. There are already ghosts here, so we wouldn't stand out. And it's one of the safest places there is."

"Lily, you're a genious! I knew it was worth all the years of torture I went through to marry you!"

Ignoring the half-hearted arguement that broke out, Dumbledore considered the idea. It just might work.

**Woo! And so ends the intro to this fic! I like it. A lot. From now on, each chapter shall be a one-shot incriment of different stuff that happens in their lives. It's sooooo much easier to write it that way. And if I get any crazy ideas, I won't have to work them in.**

**So, until next time, faithful readers. Read. Review. Party. **


	5. Babysitting and Potions Class

**Welcome to the next chapter! Today, we'll be torturing Professor Severus Snape. **

**From here on out, each chapter is going to be isolated stories about their lives. Past, present, future...it's all fair game. I'll try to give you a timeline at the beginning of every chapter so you don't get lost. **

**Harry is about two years old. Woo.**

**wonderlandgirl**: Aww, thanks! I love blatant praise!

**sphinxgurl**: Lol. Yes, there will be much pranking. It's James and Sirius' job to teach young Harry how to be hooligan!

**Mrs.RonaldWeasley1991**: Argh! I hate how the site has been messing up lately! Thanks, for the compliment and the use of your idea. I wanted to make sure, just so I wouldn't be a dirty thief!

**Cyra Hakkai**: Look! Your name has appeared again in one of my fics! (How lucky you must be...) Don't worry. I like this fic too. But I'm glad I have you around to whip my butt into gear! 

**Disclaimer: I don't own no Harry Potter! No way, no how!**

Severus Snape glared at the small child playing happily in the area behind his desk. Happiness had no place in his dungeons. Neither did small children.

Especially Potters.

_"With all due respect,_ sir_, I absolutely refuse to baby-sit that brat!"_

_"Severus, we have no other place to put him. It'll only be for today, I promise. Besides, it's not as if you'll have much to do. He is capable of entertaining himself."_

_'By running headlong into walls,' Severus thought, but didn't say it aloud. Instead, he gave his reluctant answer. "Very well. But you owe me, Headmaster. I won't forget it."_

And so, here they were. It could have been worse, he supposed. The insufferable Potter senior could have demanded to be present, and then his nightmare would have been complete.

With the finesse of the well-practiced asshole, Severus set out on his rounds of the classroom, so as to inspect his students' progress and -ahem- 'help'.

"Billings! What _exactly_ is this supposed to be?"

The rather small-framed girl looked up at Severus through locks of her bright red hair. "It...it's a coloring potion, sir."

"Really? I was under the impression that by now, your particular potion should be a thin lavender. Or perhaps I am colorblind?" He seized her ladle and scooped some of the offending liquid up and poured it back into the cauldron, so everyone in the classroom could clearly see that it was a bright, acid green.

Hanging her head in embarrassment, Billings replied, "No, Professor."

"Well, then. You shall try again. Tonight, 8 o'clock. And you will continue to come every night this week until you can get it right." Severus vanished the contents of her cauldron. "I will not tolerate anything less than perfection if you wish to stay in my N.E.W.T. class. Is that understood?"

"Yes Professor."

As the entire class had been paying attention to the episode going on near the back of the room, nobody had noticed a small figure making his way towards one of the cauldrons in the front.

Harry laughed as the bubbles spun and popped above his head. He reached for one that had floated lower. But since he wasn't quite used to walking with extreme coordination yet, he lost his balance. Falling forward, he grabbed for the nearest handle hold to regain his balance. Unfortunately, the nearest handle hold was an actual handle. Of the cauldron.

SCENE CHANGE

When Remus and Sirius got back from their trip to Diagon Alley that evening, they were greeted by an exuberant, if not slightly discolored, toddler.

"What happened to you, cub?" Sirius asked, sweeping his godson into his arms. "Youre looking rather..."

"Red?" James floated into the room, a mixed expression on his face. "There was an accident in potions today, as you can see."

Remus tried to hide a smile as Sirius laughed uncontrollably. "Look at it this way, Prongs; he could be green."

**I know, I know. It's been a long time. But in my defense, colorguard has had me at practice every night of the week (and some Saturdays), and all my other free-time has been devoted to not failing my AP English class. **

**But have no fear! I have a few other chapters started, and these crazy practices will be over in about a month. So prepare yourselves for more constant updates! (and review!)**


	6. Running Headlong into Walls

**Here is the long-awaited update. I know that I'm a poop-head who deserves to be kicked in the ovaries, but all I can do is apologize for being lazy and post the next chapter quickly. **

**Time-line: Uh...Harry is two. This is before the last chapter by about...oh, let's say a month. We get to learn what Severus meant by his comment about "running headlong into walls". **

**Disclaimer: Please. Would I work if I owned this?**

Remus Lupin was wandering the vast halls of Hogwarts, basking in the late summer sunlight that streamed through the windows. It was nice to stroll along without worrying about the students bumping into you or whatnot. Since school was about to resume in a couple weeks, he was taking advantage of the quiet as much as he could.

Thump

Remus turned towards the sudden noise, suspecting Peeve's tomfoolery. "Hello? If anyone might happen to be pulling a prank, I'm not interested."

Thump

This time, the muffled sound was accompanied by a slight cry, such as one that might be made by a mouse. Or perhaps...a small child?

Remus decided to take his chances with being pranked, and walked briskly to where the sound was being made. It was Sirius' day to babysit Harry, and the werewolf wouldn't be surprised if something idiotic was being put into motion.

He couldn't be more correct.

When he finally reached the source of the thumping, he had to make a split-second decision between laughing or feeling concerned.

There was Harry, getting up from the floor, and flinging himself desperately at the wall. He fell down again, and made motions to repeat himself, when Remus grabbed the child around the middle and hauled him into his arms.

"What are you doing, Harry? Trying to crack your skull open?"

"No," the toddler replied, as if it were obvious he couldn't be that stupid! "I'm gonna go through the wall, like Mummy and Da."

Remus sighed. "We've been over this Harry. Mummy and Da aren't like the rest of us. They're special, ok? They can do some things that we can't, just like we can do some things that they can't."

"But...Sir'us says I can do anything!"

"I don't think he meant walkking through solid objects. Where did you hide the old mutt, anyway?"

Harry giggled. "Fighting with Snivvy!"

"Oh dear..."

Remus carried the child (who was developing quite a bump on his forehead) to the Great Hall, and left him with one of the professors who was enjoying an early supper. "Sorry, but I need to take care of something. I hope you don't mind."

The professor in question didn't mind, as nearly everyone in the castle adored little Harry. (As a direct consequence, he was very thouroughly spoilt).

"Sirius Orion Black! How could you be so careless?!"

Sirius turned from where he had been insuling his childhood enemy to see a very, _very_ enraged werewolf.

"I cannot beleive you let Harry stay alone! He was running into the walls repeatedly, trying to be a ghost! He could have goten seriously injured if I hadn't found him! What kind of godfather are you?"

Sirius' only response to this tirade was to pale and utter a short "Oh hell!" before running off.

Severus shared a look with the still furious wolf.

"Idiot."

**It's...short. And has plot holes. But that's the very essence of the whole Harry Potter world, right?! (Perhaps not...)**

**In any case, I'm almost done with the next chapter. Don't forget to tell me what you thought! Translation: reveiw.**


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